Bringers of Hope
by Inibrius
Summary: In a post-DH world, a lonely Harry Potter makes some new friends  and finds some old ones  in the most unlikely places.
1. Chapter 1

Rating for language. Somebody might get lucky later, who knows?

I don't own crap. JKR owns Harry. Damon and Jamie et al own Gorillaz. I'm just playin.

Summary: In a post-DH world, a lonely Harry Potter makes some new friends (and finds some old ones) in the most unlikely places.

* * *

Harry was depressed.

A month ago he was a hero. He defeated the dark lord. Saved his friends. Got the girl. He should be the happiest guy in the world, right?

Well a lot can happen in a month.

The hero part, well, fame is fickle. Apparently Dumbledore had spoiled the wizarding world. Being a great hero AND a great politician meant that after he defeated Grindlewold that he was able to step in and help put the country back together. He did the same thing after Voldemort's first defeat. Well, they expected the same from their new hero. Percy Weasley, new interim Minister of Magic, floo-called Harry at least 5 times a day asking his opinion on vital matters. But what does Harry know about economics? Or setting policy for government workers? Or any of the other things they keep asking him about. (He does, after all, only have a sixth-year education, and due to Ministry laws, has only until his 18th birthday (in 3 weeks) to take any NEWTS he hopes to pass.) And since the world hasn't magically gotten better in every aspect, people are again beating him up in the news. And speaking of news...

We mentioned the girl earlier. Ginny Weasley. She of the red hair and freckles. Love of Harry's life. Well apparently little miss was so bemoaned by Harry's disappearance that she waited a whole two weeks to end up on her back. Since then she's been used like a post owl (by anybody with a knut) and about a week before Harry resurfaced, her birth control charms failed (any charm has it's limits, after all) and she ended up pregnant by one of her 6 or 7 'friends' of the time. She of course waited to disclose this information to our hero until after he professed his undying love for her, and for once in his life the BWL demonstrated that he had a pair by kicking her stupid ass out of his life.

She of course felt the need to prove how good of a person she was by telling everybody that the baby was his, and that he was running away from his responsibility by stating otherwise. Of course his claims to the contrary fell on deaf ears, and even the full page ad he took out in the _Daily Prophet_ offering to take a paternity test (as well as a virginity test, since he was still afflicted with that unfortunate state) was taken as proof that he was guilty, and that he had found a way around those tests. In the process, all of his 'friends' had fallen by the wayside. The Weasleys, and especially Ron refused to believe that Ginny was the village bicycle, and the freshly engaged Hermione could not disagree with them. Neville and Luna had gone off to the jungle of Zimbabwe in search of, um, something or another, and in the midst of all of this ruckus, the courts had ruled that even though the Lupins had named him Teddy's godfather, that since he had no gainful employment (and apparently the million Galleon prize that came with an Order of Merlin didn't count) that custody of Teddy went to Andromeda Tonks-Black.

Harry had always thought that he would have Quidditch to fall back on, being youngest seeker in a century, etc etc. But amazingly enough none of the UK teams would even return his floo for a tryout. (Did we mention that Ron Weasley now works as an assistant to the director of the Magical Games division of the Ministry? Nepotism is a wonderful thing sometimes).

"Well," Harry thought, "I'm tired of feeling like this. That whole war, all the crap I went through, and nothing changed. I'm still getting crapped on. And the worst part is I don't even understand why I even give a fuck!"

So Harry made a resolution to himself. He would stop trying to be what THEY wanted him to be, and who THEY wanted him to be. He signed up to take his NEWTS early, taking a spot that same day, where he passed three (DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration.) He left a message for Minister Weasley letting him know that Harry would no longer be available as an unofficial advisor.

And he started spending a lot more time in muggle London. He started hanging out at cafes and bookstores and head shops. He started trying to experience all the stuff that he never could when he lived with the Dursleys. And he discovered music. He had never realized that there was a soundtrack to everything, if you stopped to listen. It started with little things, like realizing that you could tell what bookstore you were in just by the music that was faintly playing in the background. Or that all of the most important occurrences are punctuated by song. A book on the Beatles showed how four young men from Liverpool became the most important people ever, more well known then kings or presidents, because of their music. Dumbledore had said in Harry's first year that music was 'a magic greater than that which we all do'. But the wizarding world was curionsly devoid of music. Sure they have a few singers or musicians, but they were all trained in the muggle world.

So Harry started learning the guitar. He started like most new musicians, with nothing but a couple of books and a goal. He wanted to be the one providing the soundtrack to life. He wanted to be able to immerse himself in something for the sake of doing it, not because it's 'expected'. He wanted his legacy to be 'Harry, musician'. Not 'Harry, Boy-who-just-won't-bloody-die'.

But then he discovered something. His magic brought something to the music. Something a little different. A few weeks after he started, he sat on the porch of his rented flat (something about being away from the Wizarding world seemed to kickstart his creativity. Almost like the ambient magic did something to him...) practicing scales, when a woman he saw every morning jogging stopped by to tell him that she appreciated him being out there. She said that she felt like his music gave her hope. And as she jogged away, he felt the place on his cheek where she had dropped a kiss before leaving and realized that there might just be something more to this.

Gradually over time in the next month or two, he found that as soon as he touched a string, he had an audience. It could have been coincidence at first, but when he was trying out a new guitar at his local shop and got an audience of 30, he knew that wasn't normal. And everybody said the same thing...that his music gave them hope.

After a few months of practice, Harry felt he was ready to actually try his hand at playing with other people, so he started looking for bands to play with. He decided that he needed to look the part if he wanted to fit in a little better with the scene, so he 'grew' his hair out to waist length, started wearing the generic rock star uniform of jeans, boots, t-shirt, leather jacket and sunglasses, and adopted the name 'Sebastian'(meaning hope). He started with the normal places, local clubs, music stores, to no avail, until somebody clued him in that the place to find like minded individuals was on the internet. For the next few months, he played with anybody that would touch an instrument with him, regardless of style. He had a semi-regular gig with a blues band, played with a death metal quartet, and even played with a guy that used an old pickup truck engine to fill up his bagpipes. Then one day...

'Sebastian' was cruising the 'musician wanted' ads, looking for something to do for the weekend, when he ran across a rather strange ad. It read:

"International supergroup looking for guitarist. Temporary gig, our full time guitarist has found herself banished to Hell, and her android replacement isn't ready yet. Must be able to play everything from Hendrix to Beethoven to Escudero. Apply in person at Kong Studios in Essex. Must have own instruments and the ability to travel."

A few clicks later showed Harry that this was the last known studio location of a band calling themselves 'Gorillaz'. "Silly name" he thought to himself, as he downloaded a couple of their demo tracks.

Two hours later he put down his headphones slowly, pondering over what he just heard. Two studio albums, multiple remix albums, and what the hell is the deal with 'cool shoeshines'? But he kept coming back to a song from their original album, entitled 'Tomorrow Comes Today'. "Their lyricist really knows what it's like. I wonder what he's been through to make him understand things that well. Ah well, guess I'm taking a road trip. Better go buy a car"

Three hours later, Harry pulled up to the gates of what looked like a giant laboratory. Getting out of his new van, he walked up to the entrance to see an empty velvet-roped queue with a sign denoting 'guitar applicants'. Another sign said 'Bugger off if you haven't got an appointment unless you're really effing good. And if you are, go straight in to the studio. Queues are for wankers anyway. -M' Harry walked straight in, and headed to the (typically) empty reception desk, where a sign states 'Bloody hell. What are you reading this for? Go in the lift and head down to the recording studio, you knob!'. With a smile on his face, Harry headed to the lift, and hit the appropriate button. As he stepped out of the lift, a bag went over his head, and he felt himself being dragged towards...something evil. Before he even had the presence of mind to pull his wand, he heard a deep, American sounding voice say "I hope this will really work, Muds" before feeling himself being thrown...somewhere evil.

After a long fall, before landing on his ass with a 'thud', Harry managed to struggle out of the bag to find himself in what looks like a generic office, with a desk, a couple of chairs, and a phone. Believing this as part of the interview, he sat in one of the chairs to wait. And wait he did. After what felt like hours, he decided to leave the room to see what else was there. As soon as he touched the door handle, it disappeared, and in its place a small Asian woman stood.

"You must be Murdock's latest attempt. Sorry about that. My name is Noodle, welcome to Hell".

As Harry gaped at her, he noticed that she was not alone. A large black dog padded up behind her. Harry's mouth dropped. "PADFOOT?"


	2. Chapter 2

Rating for language

I don't own crap. JKR owns Harry. Damon and Jamie et al own Gorillaz. I'm just playin.

Special thanks to my beta, Leelee, mostly for watching our daughter while I'm writing, but also for the direction of chapter 3 and for telling me it's all worth reading. Love you baby!

Summary: In a post-DH world, a lonely Harry Potter makes some new friends (and finds some old ones) in the most unlikely places.

* * *

_A large black dog padded up behind her. Harry's mouth dropped. "PADFOOT?"_

The dog looked at him, then looked again, then knocked Harry over, licking him on the face.

"He likes you. He doesn't usually like people around here. He even made Del leave for a while until I explained that he was a friend. So who are you anyway?"

Without even thinking, he replied "They call me Sebastian. You said your name was Noodle? And where did you find him? And where the hell are we, by the way?"

Her response was a grin. "Well, from last to first, you're right. We are in Hell. That portal that you, um, fell through was one of the lesser known portals that go directly here. From what I'm told, it's one of four locations in England that have one. The others are in Cardiff, where that crazy Captain Jack character keeps an eye on it, Stonehenge, and there's one somewhere under the Underground in London..."

"..inside the Ministry of Magic! Holy Shit! So Padfoot..."

"From what my friend Del tells me my big snuggly puppy here is actually a guy that's stuck in a dog's body. He said something that I didn't quite understand about having to get a mage here to straighten him out, but I don't know what he meant by that. And what do you mean the Ministry of Magic? "

In response Harry started digging through the guitar case that inexplicably still hung from him shoulder, and ended up pulling out his still most prized possession, a Holly and Phoenix feather masterpiece that was right now slightly glowing. "I'll explain that in a moment, miss. But first, _FINITE INCANTATEM_" he yelled, pointing his wand at Padfoot, who stuck his tongue out at Harry rather cheekily.

"Um..._ANIMUS REVEALEM_" Padfoot glowed blue for a second, then nothing. Harry tried a few other spells, then exclaimed "God DAMMIT Sirius, just fucking change back already! I don't know the damn spell!" Padfoot responded by rubbing his head against Harry's hip, as in saying "Sorry, I can't help you there."

As tears of frustration came out of Harry's eyes, Noodle asked "Is there a reason he can't stay that way for right now? It's not like we're in a hurry here. I've been here for what feels like months, and I've never needed to eat or drink or...anything like that."

Harry responded "No, I suppose you're right. He's more useful as a dog anyway usually...so I guess the question has to be asked before we go much farther, how did a nice girl like you end up in a place like this?"

Noodle giggled. "Well, my friend Murdoc had a problem with a payment on a contract, and when some of his collectors came calling, well he was out, and they decided I'd be good collateral. So here I am. I've tried calling Murdoc to see if he can pay the debt, or do something, because it's just so BORING here, but the reception here is horrible. I just hope the collectors don't find him. They have the combination now, so it wouldn't be too hard for them, I'd think."

Harry frowned. "What kind of debt could this be that they would take a PERSON for collateral? And what combination?"

Noodle shrugged it off. "I'm told that he made a made a deal with Beelzebub, something about his immortal soul for a hit record or something. I don't really know the details, just that like usual he tried to do something good and ended up on the short end of the stick. That poor bloke has the worst luck. So anyway, you're a magic guy. How did Murdoc get you to come down here?"

Harry rolled his eyes at that one. "I was there for a tryout, apparently for your spot in the band. All I know is some big dude threw a bag over my head, tossed me into something evil, bob's your uncle, now I'm here."

Her eyes got big, then narrowed. "Wait, so you thought you could take my spot?" She growled at him. "MY spot? How long have you been playing?"

Harry grinned. 'What the hell' he thought to himself, 'what's the worst that could happen...she'll be pissed at me for eternity?' "Three months, give or take a week. But it's not like what you play is difficult, now is it?"

Noodle's assassin training was starting to kick in. Through pursed lips she mumbled "You are so lucky I don't have a guitar. I'd play circles around you, then strangle you with it."

Harry reached behind him and pulled his case to the front. "Do you have a preference? I have a couple of acoustics, a couple of Strats, a Les, one of Dime's old Kramers, and the double-neck that Page played on 'Stairway' when they did that movie."

Noodle looked a little confused. "Um, did you forget, you can't go get anything right now?"

He laughed. "Magic, remember?" He pulled out a rack of guitars from his case and selected a nice looking acoustic. She shrugged and grabbed an identical guitar to his, then sat down to check it's tuning.

As she started to play, Harry noticed a distant rumbling, like a thousand voices complaining all at once in some far away stadium. He ignored it, watched her for the pattern, then joined in to the song she was playing, one he had heard from their first album, a song he really didn't understand because it was sung in Spanish. Had a nice little riff that was pretty good to play over though. As he started to play a little counterpoint to her, they were both too busy looking at each other, sizing up the competition, as it were, to notice that starting with the guitars, then growing to encompass them was a light blue glow. They continued to play, both almost instinctively knowing what the other was going to play, and how they could best match it. It was like they were both in a trance. Neither of them was consciously playing anymore, they were just along for the ride. And when they came to the end of the song, they both realized that was something they could only ever strive for again.

"Wow, I feel so...hopeful. That everything is going to turn out OK" Noodle said.

"That's what they all say when they hear me play." Harry said jokingly. Then he turned, dropped his guitar and grabbed his wand. "What the hell is that?"

Noodle put a hand on his arm to stop him from shooting first and asking questions later. "That's Del. He's a friend." As the being floated up to him, Harry mumbled to himself 'a friend?'. Then the being spoke.

"Nood, what the hell are you playing at over here? From what I hear the big guy himself is heading this way to throw out a major ass-beating to whoever it was that just did that. Oh, sup dawg" the giant blue ghost mumbled to Padfoot, who nodded back at home, "and hey new guy. Name's Del the Funkadelic. So what's your deal? Guitars? Music? And was that a glimmer of HOPE I saw? The D-man is gonna shit. You better clear out before this gets any worse!" And with that the ghost disappeared.

"Maybe we should listen to the big blue dude and take off" Harry said a little disappointedly.

"I don't think so. Play another song. Do you know this one?" Noodle asked, and started to play the intro to 'El Manana'. Harry nodded and started playing along, that by-now familiar feeling surrounding them again. What was either an eternity or 30 seconds later, a crack appeared in the ground by their feet. They kept playing, and the crack got bigger, until it looked big enough for a person to go through. "Paddy, go first!" Harry said, concentrating on the music, and not this. As the dog went through the rift, Harry started seeing what looked like hundreds of demons approaching, following behind a huge individual that almost HAD to be the Prince of Darkness himself.

"Noodle, you're next! Go quick!" Harry waved her through, and just before the horde got to them, he jumped through behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Rating for language.

I don't own crap. JKR owns Harry. Damon and Jamie et al own Gorillaz. And anything else you recognize is owned by somebody other than me. Except for the beer...cuz you really can't OWN beer, you can only rent it.

Special thanks to my beta, Leelee, mostly for telling me it's all worth reading. Love you baby!

If you missed it, check out the Gorillaz concert on the Letterman stage. Great show – best live version of Feel Good Inc I've seen :)

Summary: In a post-DH world, a lonely Harry Potter makes some new friends (and finds some old ones) in the most unlikely places.

* * *

Harry landed with an 'oof' on top of a horrible velour couch. He looked around to see probably the most horrible place he's ever been in. Gold shag carpets, mirrored walls, disco balls hanging from the ceiling, smoking jackets in display cases, and what looks like a gold-plated grand piano. Think 1970's pimp décor turned up to 11. And as he finished his sweep of the room, he noticed Padfoot sitting on his hunches with an amused look on his face watching Noodle jumping on what looks like a giant beanbag chair and yelling...something. (He doesn't speak Japanese, after all.)

As Harry got closer, he asked "Noodle, what the hell are you doing?" He was surprised to see the 'beanbag chair' turn around to look at him. And growl. What he had taken for a stuffed chair was actually the biggest human he had ever seen (and thinking about Hagrid, that's saying something). Seven feet tall, probably six feet wide, wearing a Yankees cap, a Knicks jersey and a fur-lined leather jacket. Harry pulled his wand just in time to see Noodle jump in front of him and start screaming incomprehensibly, grabbing his wand out of his hand and tossing it to the side (almost hitting Padfoot in the process).

"Sebastian, stop stop stop! This is my friend Russel!" Noodle finally screamed at him. Harry took a step back and relaxed a bit. 'Ok, if this is a friend of hers, then we should be cool. But how the hell does she know people EVERYWHERE? Does she have the same love/hate relationship with fate I have?' he thought to himself before saying "Hi, I'm Sebastian. Good to meet you. Um, not to be rude or anything, but where the hell are we?"

Russel Hobbs was not a person that was taken aback easily. As a matter of fact, he didn't even flinch when his entire crew, including his best friend, Del, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting by a car driven by Death himself. Or when Del's spirit took up residence in his body. Or when the Grim Reaper came to perform an exorcism on him to remove all the wayward spirits he had collected. But seeing a person that he personally cast into a portal to Hell 3 months ago come up and want to be friends...'Well, Muds did say I was off confronting my demons, after all' he thought to himself. "Hi Sebastian. Good to meet you. Thanks for helping get our Noodle out of there. Oh, and before I forget, sorry about the whole 'tossing you into a portal to hell' thing. Was nothing personal, just trying to save my girl Noods. Good job with that, by the way." He said all without taking a breath.

Harry shook his head trying to understand what the walking mountain of a man had just said. "Wait, so you were the one that threw me into that portal? Why the fuck would you do that?"

Russel laughed, a sound not unlike a truck transmission grinding. "Like I said, sorry about that. Muds said the only way to get her out was to send somebody else in her place. I shoulda known better then to believe anything he said, I know he's just trying to keep his own ass from getting sent there, but I was so desperate when Noodle got taken that I was a little irrational."

Harry thought about that for a minute, then chuckled to himself. "I guess I would have done the same thing. I've been known to, shall we say, throw caution to the wind in the defense of my friends and family, so let's just not mention that again. We got out OK anyway. So, as I was saying, where and when are we?"

Russel looked at Noodle rather sheepishly before answering. "Well after sending you through the portal, and after all the crap I've gone through with Del and all..."

"We saw Del while we were down there, by the way" Noodle interjected. "He told us to let you know that he's doing well. He was working on some rhymes, said he had a way to get them to you."

"You did? Great! Anyway. After all that I kinda went nuts for a little bit. Came back to New York, where I ran into Ike Turner. I had crashed at his place right after our first album, when I had my little episode with the Reaper, and he had always been cool with me. As a matter of fact that's why he did 'Every Planet We Reach Is Dead' with us (regardless of what Muds thinks, Ike always called him a nob). So we end up on a private jet to San Diego, and the next thing I know we're here, jamming in his basement. Well we started playing 'Cold Day in Hell' and I just couldn't take it anymore. I apparently yelled something about some immortal being taking away everyone close to me, and Ike split. He came back an hour later with his lawyer, and for whatever reason he signed the deed to this place over to me. He told me to 'stay here as long as it takes to straighten your shit out crazy-ass drum boy'. That's just the way Ike was, too. Great friggin guy. Anyway, a couple of weeks later, his lawyer shows back up. I figure it was to get back the deed to the house, but come to find out that Ike OD'd, and for who knows why (probably to piss off his 5 ex-wives) he left me this place. Of course, he's still here, don't be surprised if you hear piano playing from time to time. And by the way, he's always up for a jam now, so if you're ever in the studio, make sure you offer. It's worth it. So anyway, does that clarify anything?"

Harry tried to process this. "Clear as mud, chap. But regardless, we're better off than we were earlier. Now where did my wand end up?"

A familiar voice said "Oh, I caught it. Thanks for that."

Harry, without even looking, replied "Sure Siri, anything you...SIRIUS?"


End file.
